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Highly Connected: Rutgers Law-Camden Student Brings Vast Network

Connectivity matters in today’s world. Just ask 1L Scott Isaacson of Utah, a leading computer scientist for the past three decades, who has joined the law school with some 60 patents under his belt working for industry leading companies.

The former engineer for Novell, Inc., who holds a master’s degree in computer science from Stanford, brings vast professional experience to his latest undertaking, a JD from Rutgers Law–Camden. Isaacson plans to utilize his comprehensive technical expertise into his legal education to become a lawyer specializing in intellectual property.

While Isaacson knows all about writing code, his greatest achievement just might be the human network that he and his wife, Nina, have established. When seeking to grow a family through adoption, the couple learned that one adoptive child had a unique network: eight biological siblings separated into three different foster homes.

That compassionate decision-making ultimately led to their adopting 17 children, from ages two to 16. From this unique personal experience, Isaacson knows a great deal about how laws work in this country as well as the laws needed to maintain order in a household that large.

Before finalizing all of the adoptions of the 10 boys and seven girls, the Isaacsons talked with the older children about how their house would need structured rules on bedtimes, schoolwork, and a conservative lifestyle that would be new to the children, from challenged upbringings.

“We wanted to make sure they knew we wanted to keep the family together, but with that many kids we were going to be strict, and they all said ‘they’d love that.’”

While their willingness to welcome so many children into their lives has garnered the attention of many, including Oprah Winfrey, who spotlighted the Isaacsons in 2000, their journey as a family has not been without duress.

“Reality shows are nowhere near reality,” he says. “Real family life is everything they edit out, and those realities have been tough for us, but it is about working together and just being there for them.”

When Nina pursued a graduate degree for acupuncture, the whole family ventured to Hawaii. Now she and the children still under the Isaacsons’ care have journeyed to New Jersey to support dad’s legal ambitions, and they have gone enthusiastically.

“You have to take what life gives you,” he says. “If you can step into the opportunities you make, then good things are going to happen.”

A pair of Rutgers University–Camden students has found a new family of functional materials for the production of clean hydrogen fuel through photocatalysis, a process that uses sunlight or ultraviolet light to drive chemical reactions.

Marcus Biddle, a Rutgers University–Camden Civic Scholar, will be honored for his tireless volunteering efforts at The Neighborhood Center’s 101st annual meeting and luncheon, to be held at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, May 3, at St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church in Cherry Hill.